Twenty years ago, Peruvian cuisine was a well kept secret only known to Peruvian citizens. Nowadays it is an essential point of reference among world cuisines. How did Peru become a culinary point of reference, a top gastro-tourism destination and an important super foods exporter?
The PROMPERÚ representative, Isabella Falco, who is Communications and Country Image Director, tried to answer these questions at the ‘GastroEconomy Summit’ organized by TURYID, the Turkish Restaurant and Entertainment association, which gathered experts from Peru, Denmark, Spain, the United States, Great Britain, Turkey, Korea and Japan.
At the presentation, PROMPERÚ showed that gastronomy in Peru has been understood to be a powerful driving force for economic growth and development. The rise of Peruvian cuisine is proof that gastronomy can be a great social transformer, a weapon for economic development and a tool for change.
In just a few years, Peruvian cuisine has won well-deserved international prestige. Now Peru is home to three of the 50 best restaurants in the world on the San Pellegrino list: Astrid y Gastón, Central and Maido.
Since 2012, Peru has won the award for "World's Leading Culinary Destination" six times in a row at the prestigious World Travel Awards.
In 2017, Virgilio Martínez from Central received the World's 50 Best Restaurants’ "Chef's Choice" award and Mitsuharu Tsumura's Maido restaurant reached the number 1 spot in the ranking for the 50 best restaurants in Latin America.
Following in the footsteps of their predecessors, there is now a fourth generation of young chefs, named "The generation with a cause", who want to transform the art of cooking into a social cause that defends the eradication of hunger and the preservation of the environment through sustainable production and culinary recycling.
In addition, Peru sees gastronomy as a powerful driver for encouraging trips to the country. According to the National Institute of Statistics, gastro-tourism already involves over 6 million people in Peru, a country with a population of 32 million.
It should be noted that this has opened up new avenues for the export of fresh fruit and vegetables, fish and seafood, Andean grains like quinoa, fruits and nuts from the Amazon, specialty coffees and cocoa. Using its famous cuisine as a lever, Peru is quickly becoming an important player in the world food export business.